Animals, hikers still active on winter trails

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Activities:

Wednesday, January 1, 1 p.m., New Year's Day Hike and Potluck: Meet at Kishwaukeetoe for a hike at 1 p.m. Followed by a potluck to bring in the new year at Eileen's home in Elkhorn. Contact: Eileen, (262) 723-3716.

Saturday, January 4, 5:30 p.m., 6th Annual KNC New Year night hike, bonfire and cookout at 6:30 p.m.: Meet at the Kishwauketoe Nature Conservancy entrance on Wisconsin Highway 67. Please contact Harold at Haroldf43@gmail.com so that he knows how much food is needed. BTW, Ed's chili is outstanding!

Occasional extra hikes farther from home: Bonnie Nommensen would like to invite those who would like to hike in places we seldom or never hike, possibly once a month to contact her. The hikes may not coincide with our regular hikes. Everyone is welcome to join these hikes, but you need to email Bonnie Nommensen at nommom@hotmail.com, so she has your email and can then notify you when such hikes occur and the details of the hike. When emailing her, you can also include suggestions as to where you would like to hike. Two current suggestions are: Devil's Staircase in Janesville, and continuing the hike around Lake Geneva.”

Weekly Walks: Meet each Tuesday at 4 p.m. and Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. at the U.S. Highway 12 Ice Age National Scenic Trail crossing located about four miles east of Whitewater, about a quarter mile east of the intersection of Highway 12 with Sweno Road. The parking lot is at the west end of Sherwood Forest Road, which is a short road that intersects Highway 12 at each end. We include two or more walks of different distances on Wednesdays and also do this on Tuesdays when desired. All ages are welcome. Note that a current state park pass is required to park a car at the Highway 12 meeting place. A daily or yearly pass may be purchased at the meeting place provided correct change is available. Trail passes are available also so if you plan to cross country ski you should pick up one of these also. You may also purchase passes at the forest headquarters between Palmyra and Eagle on Wisconsin Highway 59. Passes for 2014 are now available for purchase and they are also good for the rest of 2013. A park pass is not required to park at the forest headquarters.

There is a gun season for deer from Dec 24 through Jan 5. During this time we will still meet at the Highway 12 meeting place. This is not a hugely popular hunting season so there will not be a large number of hunters, but wear bright colors in case we decide to hike where hunting is allowed. We may carpool to someplace where hunting is not allowed or hike nearby.

On Dec 24 and 25: I don't expect many, if any, hikers these days as most of us will be celebrating the season with family and friends. If you would like a short hike on either of these days at our regular time please let me know.

We had a short three mile hike around Lake LaGrange last Tuesday, as some of us planned to go to the local Ice Age Trail Alliance chapter meeting for their holiday potluck party and meeting.

It was a nice walk with warmer weather than that of last week. We saw many animal tracks and a large area of open water by the largest spring hole which always stays open all winter.

On Wednesday, we all carpooled to the John Muir bicycle/hiking trails. There we were met by others who were skiing across the road at the Nordic Trails. Twenty-one hikers plus two canine companions split into two groups. The shorter distance people walked counterclockwise on the white trail. The long distance group went clockwise.

I was with the shorter distance group. Shortly into the hike our canine companions were greeted by three others on leashes. There was a little friendly barking as the owners of all five pulled on their leashes when we passed.

At the point where the southeast loop split off the white trail this group split into two. Ellen led the shortest hike on the rest of the three mile white trail, while Jake and I took another contingency on the longer hike which added a couple more miles to our adventure.

Shortly after entering the longer loop we met the long distance hikers let by Norwin. We chatted a bit and continued on our way while they ended up taking the orange trail back for a hike of six or seven miles.

The trails were open to biking this day and we did meet one bicyclist who was also enjoying these trails on a bike with very wide tires.

After reconnection with the short white trail we stopped for a rest at a bench overlooking a large kettle swamp.

It had been a delightful hike with perfect weather. We regrouped at the LaGrange General Store for soup and sandwiches before departing.